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"Rio!" Lux prodded Rio in bed.
"mmnnmm..." Rio rolled over and pulled the blanket tighter.
"Rio, get up!" Lux yanked on the blanket and pulled it off of Rio's shoulders. "I have a surprise for you!"
"mmmnnN! Fuck," Rio mumbled.
She rubbed her eyes and looked at the window, trying to gauge what time it was, but Lux moved to block her view. Too damn early and too damn cold was all she could gather.
She considered going back to sleep, but Lux was being weirdly insistent. Normally she only got this antsy when a magical beast was attacking the town or when one of the kids exploded again. This time though her excitement was palpable. She bounced on her heels like an eager kid. Rio couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her this excited.
"Arright, I'm goin'," Rio grumbled.
Begrudgingly, she got out of bed and dressed in her new winter clothes. She was still kind of getting used to having proper winter clothes; back in Zaun she never really needed to change that much with the seasons, let alone wear furs. By contrast, her first winter in Demacia had been, so far, cold as balls. She had a warm fur coat and insulated pants and thick boots, and she still shivered under it all.
Her prosthetic finger was so cold she dropped it when she went to put it on. She briefly considered warming it by stuffing it down Lux's shirt, but decided she would just make do without it. She made a mental note to make a wooden finger for winter and joined Lux at the door. The whole time while she had dressed, Lux had been very particular to stand between her and the window, and kept the curtain drawn tight.
"Alright, what's this surprise?"
Lux was smiling so hard she was starting to shine. "Go outside and see!"
Rio opened the door and was buffeted by a blast of cold air. It was shockingly bright, and she shielded her eyes as she stepped outside. As her vision cleared, a world painted by snow came into focus.
She had seen snow before, of course. She had been in Demacia for nearly a year. She had been in snow showers and seen it piled under trees and beside sheds. Even as a kid, it snowed once or twice in Piltover.
Just last night it had been snowing. There had been intermittent showers of snow and rain for the last couple weeks, and recently frost had been gathering on the grass in place of morning dew. Snow had started to fall when she went to bed last night, and evidently it had not stopped.
She hadn't expected it to transform the landscape so dramatically. All of Terbisia was buried under a layer of pristine, undisturbed snow. A few errant flakes fell from the clouded sky overhead and drifted in the breeze. The wind picked up and drifts of snow blew in curled wisps from the rooftops. It was so picturesquely beautiful in a way she never thought was real.
She took another step and delighted in how the snow crunched under her feet. Perfect impressions of her boots made a trail from the door behind her, a striking break in the clean snow. She laughed to herself and the sound of her voice, like the world around her, felt muted. It was so still and quiet. It was perhaps the most serene thing she had ever seen.
"Lux-" she started to say when she was nailed square in the chin with a snowball.
She spat snow out of her mouth and wiped her cheek. She stared stunned at Lux, who grinned back with such mischievous glee Rio had never seen from her before. They locked eyes and came to a mutual understanding of what was about to happen.
The tension abruptly snapped as they both scrambled to gather snow. Rio had never done this before, and wasn't wearing her gloves. She hastily gathered a handful of snow and hurled it in Lux's direction, but it simply exploded into powder the moment it left her hand. A snowball impacted against her chest.
Through the cloud of snow, she watched Lux shape her next snowball, and raised her arm to shield her face against it. She copied Lux's technique and packed the handful of snow into a tight ball between her hands. She ate another on the back before she was able to return fire, hitting Lux sharply in the cheek.
Lux gasped and before she was finished shaking her head, Rio sent another snowball into her shoulder. Even with bare freezing fingers, Rio continued attacking with lethal accuracy. Lux was overwhelmed by her barrage, and in desperation summoned a shield of light with her free hand. With the other she lobbed her snowball over the shield, but it fell several feet short of Rio.
"That's cheating!" Rio shouted nevertheless.
Lux laughed at her accusations and redoubled her assault. Rio dove for cover and began making more snowballs. Lux's defenses had a critical weakness: she needed both hands to make new snowballs. If Rio was relentless in her attacks, Lux would never have a chance to reload, or else risk exposing herself.
With a good handful of snowballs prepared, Rio launched her assault. She circled Lux with Shimmer-speed, attacking from every angle. Lux was on the back foot. She had run out of snowballs and was having trouble keeping track of Rio. She backed defensively into a corner, and Rio had her.
Rio leapt again behind cover. While Lux was distracted making more snowballs, Rio scaled an icy building wall. She nearly slipped, but managed to scramble her way to the roof. She prepared a snowball for each hand and leapt over Lux's head. Both snowballs connected simultaneously with each of her ears, and Rio slid to a landing in the snow.
Lux was so stunned be the hit, she dropped her snowball and lowered her shield. Rio seized the opening and rushed her. She formed a loose snowball as she closed the distance and stopped inches from Lux's face.
"Gotcha," she panted, snowball aimed point-blank at Lux's nose.
Lux said nothing, but breathing hard, indicated her eyes upward. Rio glanced up and saw another hardlight barrier over her head, with a heaping of snow piled atop it.
Rio leapt back and threw her snowball at the same moment that Lux dropped her shield. They both fell to the ground as Rio was buried in snow and Lux was nailed in the nose.
Their heavy breath fogged the air as they lay in the snow. Lux wiped her face and laughed, while Rio laid all the way back and stared at the sky. The clouds were too bright to look at, so she shut her eyes. Belatedly, she noticed her fingers were numb, and stuffed her hands down her pants. A snowflake fell on her nose.
Lux stood with a heave and Rio listened to her boots crunch in the snow. She offered her hand and recoiled when Rio took it.
"Were you not wearing gloves that whole time?!"
As answer, Rio grinned and thrust her hands up Lux's shirt. Lux squealed and pushed against her, but Rio pressed her palms flat against Lux's chest. The magical heat that radiated from her heart warmed them much quicker than Rio's ass had.
Eventually Lux gave up struggling, so they sat there in the snow for few minutes, Rio warming her hands on Lux's boobs.
Others also began emerging from their homes as the sun rose higher behind the clouds. Gradually the pristine snow was trodden by boots and melted by magefire as roads were cleared and doors unblocked. It wasn't long before someone was calling for Lux, and they had to part ways for the day.
While Lux was helping manage the town, Rio was on kid duty. It was a snow day, her first snow day, and the kids were eager teachers. She learned proper snowball-making technique, and how to construct the best snow forts. They taught her how to make snow-angels (Demacia was really big on the angel motif, she thought) and how to build snow-men with sticks for arms and rocks for faces.
And most importantly, they taught her how to go sledding. They demonstrated with a few bits of old wood and laughed giddy as they slid down the street and crashed into a wall. But after just two runs, their makeshift sled had broken, leaving many without their turn, and all heartbroken.
Constructing a proper sledding circuit quickly became the day's task. The kids divided into two groups based on skills: one group worked on the ramp, the other worked on the sleds, and Rio managed them both. They were surprisingly efficient little workers when properly motivated, and Rio had them running smooth enough to put the damn army to shame.
A suitable hill was located at the edge of the woods just outside the walls, and was quickly cleared of debris. Most of the kids worked by hand, but a few used their magic to speed things along. They were getting valuable practice time in and didn't even know it. They also built a ramp of packed snow at the bottom of the slope, though it took a few tries to get the angle right so you didn't just crash straight into it.
The sled group got to work recycling wooden pallets and spare boards into something that resembled sleds. Some had tracks on the bottom for greater speed and control, others were just pieces of wood big enough to sit on; those were the fun ones, because you couldn't control them. The key was getting something with enough surface area to sit on, but not so much that it gave too much resistance in the snow. Rounded sleds shaped like trashcan lids were a popular solution.
By noon, they had established a well-oiled sledding hill. There was a path to the top, a ramp at the bottom, they even had a pit shop for repairing broken sleds. Rio was honestly proud of how quickly and efficiently the kids had worked.
"I wish I could get them to work together like that," Lux said. She rejoined Rio in the afternoon, after she had finally been freed from town management duties.
"You just gotta make sure they don't know it's work," Rio said.
"Miss Lux, Miss Lux!" one child cried. "Come see our hill! You should come sledding with us!"
Lux looked at the makeshift sleds and dithered. Another child tugged on her shirt and whispered, "Rio can go with you if you're scared."
"I can hold your hand too if you want," Rio said cheekily.
Lux rolled her eyes and took her hand with a laugh. "Sure, what the heck."
They took the only sled almost large enough for the both of them and climbed the hill. It wasn't one of the nice ones with tracks to steer by, which meant it was going to be extra fun. They leapt out of the way of a stray sled and got in line at the top. Rio took her position at the front of the sled, and Lux got on behind her. It creaked frightfully as she sat down and wrapped her arms around Rio's waist.
"These sleds are strong enough for two adults, though, right?" Lux said.
Rio laughed. "These things aren't strong enough for the kids! Hold on!"
Before Lux could process that, Rio pushed off with her hands and sent them screaming down the hill. Rio hooted wildly and Lux dug her chin into Rio's shoulder in a way that told her she was preparing to cast a shield in case things got dire.
Their sled was one of the round ones, and it spun out of control almost immediately. Rio spread her arms and dug into the snow in an attempt at steering that was as futile as it was fun. She leaned into the turn and managed to briefly spin around forwards, but they had gone far off course.
They hadn't planned to go for the ramp, but the sled had other ideas as it continued to spin out of control. Lux and Rio both leaned hard to the right, and Rio dug her hands into the snow trying to brake. They didn't manage to turn as much as they did just spin. They collided sideways with the edge of the ramp.
Lux cast a shield in front of the sled an instant before it collided. The result was that instead of breaking and absorbing the impact, the sled cut clean through the hill and was wedged solidly inside, sending Lux and Rio flying off. They tumbled over each other and down the hill in a mess of tangled limbs. They finally skidded to a halt at the bottom of the hill.
The rescue brigade came quickly to their aid. Half of the children were laughing, the other half shouting in concern. It was equal parts, "Miss Lux, Miss Lux, are you okay?!" and, "That was AWESOME!"
Rio groaned and disentangled herself from the wreckage. Lux laid in the snow and laughed maniacally. Her hair band had come out somewhere along the way and her hair was spread out in the snow like a halo around her shining face. Rio offered a hand and snow fell from her hair as she sat upright.
"I haven't done that since I was a kid," Lux said.
The kids watched cautiously; they weren't used to seeing Miss Lux act so silly. Lux shook her head and splattered snow on the crowd. They giggled and screamed and ran away and Lux laughed melodiously. Her hair fell in a messy curtain over her face and still her grin shone through it.
"Let's go again!" she said.
Unfortunately, their sled was unsalvageable. It was wedged solidly in the center of the ramp, and despite the shield, it had broken to pieces. The pit crew kids stared befuddled at it, trying to figure out how to get it out. One tried melting the ramp with fire, but was quickly shut down.
"You're gonna ruin the ramp!"
"The ramp's already ruined! There's a giant hole in it!"
"Easy," Rio said. "We'll just fix it."
"There's not enough time! It took all morning to make it!"
Lux pondered the ramp and then said, "Oh, I have an idea! Wait right here."
She ran awkwardly back to town, dragging her feet through the snow. She nearly slipped on a patch of ice and Rio and the kids giggled. A moment later she returned, this time bearing her staff.
"How about this," she said. She summoned a hardlight barrier over the ruins of the ramp.
The children chattered excitedly and hurried up the hill. Lux dismissed the shield while they ran, and waved to them at the top. "I'll cast it when you come down!"
The first brave sledder took off and aimed for the hill. He veered to the side, but managed to course correct. The sled made a horrible scraping sound as it skidded along the shield, but nonetheless it soared over Lux's head. The scraping was quickly drowned out by the cheers of the children as the sled flew truer than it ever had with the snow.
Lux watched to make sure the sled landed safely and then called back up the hill. "Who's next!"
Her career as a sled ramp lasted about an hour, before she got tired and the snow really started coming down again. It was getting late by then anyway, and most of the kids had tuckered out or been called back, so they all packed it up for the day and headed home.
Rio got about starting a fire while Lux collapsed on the bed. She started venting about all the problems winter had brought to Terbisia. The city was barely held together as it was, and the snow had only exacerbated every problem that they had been able to ignore until now.
Roofs were collapsing from the snow, none of the houses retained enough heat, firewood was going to run out, everyone suddenly realized their coats had holes in them, and all of it was brought to Lux. Rio couldn't help with much of it, but she could listen, and she knew it helped Lux to get it out of her system.
Finally when the fire was properly going, Rio took off her jacket and her boots. She laid her socks out to dry and warmed her hands. The wind gusted outside and they both pretended not to realize how much that draft was going to become a problem.
They could deal with that later. Today, they cuddled together under blankets by the fire and warmed up while they debated who would go back outside to get food.
The winters in Terbisia would be long and cold, and the snow would cause all sorts of hell through the years, so Rio was glad that her first snow day had been a good one.